Machine for securing clothing to carding-engines



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

E. ASHWORTH. MACHINE FOR sEGURING CLOTHING T0 OARDING ENGINE-S.

No. 404,587. Patented June 4, 1889.

Wimses. Y lIiWENTOR.

(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 2.

V I -E. ASHWORTH. MACHINE FOR SECURING CLOTHING T0 GARDING ENGINES.

No. 404,587. Patented June 4, 1889 N, PEIERS, Phaia'Lilhogmpher. Wtunuyglon. D. C.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

E. ASI-IWORTI-Lv MACHINE FOR SECURING CLOTHING T0 GARDING ENGINES.-

Patented June 4, 1889..

INVENTO R.

lJNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

ELIJAH ASHWVORTH, OF] MANCHESTER, COUNTY OF LANCASTER, ENGLAND MACHINE FOR SECURING CLOTHING TOCARDlNG-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 404,587, dated June 4, 1889. Application filed July 10, 1888. Serial No. 279,513. (No model.) Patented in England May 19, 1888, No. 7,425.

1"0 a whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIJAH ASHWORTH, engineer, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Manchester, county of Lancaster, England, have invent-ed certain Improvements in Apparatus for Use in the Securing of the Clothing to Oarding-Engine Flats, (for which I have obtained a patent in Great Britain, No. 7,425, dated May 19,1888,) of which the following is a specification- 011 the 23d day of February, 1888, I, in conjunction with George Ashworth, made application for Letters Patent of the United States for adevice for fastening the clothing to carding-engine flat-bars, the said application bearing the Serial No. 264,97 3. The invention in respect of which such application was made had for its object to improve the method of securing the card-clothing to the narrow metal bars used in carding-engines, and in the carrying into effect of such invention sheetmetal clips or clamps are so applied as to clip the bar and the margins of the foundation fabric of the card-clothing and to cover and conceal the edges of the bar.

The object of mypresent invention is to provide apparatus suitable to be used in the application and fixing of the said clips to the flat-bars. In my apparatus the fiat-bar is fixed in position upon the bed of the machine. A comb or blade is carried by a bar which can be moved toward the flat-bar, and also in a direction across the same, the said comb or blade serving to hold the clothing in position, and also to stretch it. Sliding clamping devices press the sheet-metal clips against the bar and hold it in position while it is closed down upon the foundation fabric.

I will describe the apparatus more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 illustrates the action of a clamping-bar, which is indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a plan view of the machine. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional elevation of the machine. Fig. 5 is a part of Fig. 4 drawn to a larger scale. In this figure all the parts appear which operate immediately upon the flat-bar, the clothing, and

the securing-clips. Fig. 6 shows how the clip is held during the closing down upon the fabric.

In Fig. 5, a a isa vise in which the fiat-bar b is held during the operation. Above this is a strong bar 0, which can be moved up and down and also horizontally in directions right and left when looking at the drawings. The bar 0 carries a stretching and clamping comb or blade (I. Below the fiat-bar b is a clamp e, which can be pressed upward toward the back of the flat-bar. tached to a carriage g, which can be moved toward and from the bar b. Upon the carriage g is mounted a presser-carriage-h,which is fitted to slide along the carriage g in a direction parallel with the edge of the bar I). The carriage h carries a presser-wheel t',which I use for clamping the clips down' upon the margins of the clothing.

Y The vise a a consists of a fixed bed a and a movable jaw a, which is seated in a channel formed in the top of the bed a. The strengthening-web of the bar 17 drops into the space Another clamp f is at- I between the vertical face of the jaw a and the opposed vertical side of the channel in the bed a. A half-shaftj is seated in a hollow formed in the other side of the said channel,

and extends through at one end of the ma-' chine, where it is provided with a handle, (seen at j in Fig. 3.) By turning the shaftj the jaw a, which is preferably made with a concavity to receive the rounded face of the shaft, is forced against the web of the bar 1), whereby the barbecomes adjusted in position and is firmly held. I do not attach any importance to this method of holding the bar I) so long as the bar is firmly held. The means whereby the movements of the parts 0, e, g, and h are obtained are illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4.

The bar 0 is provided at each end with planed slides, which slide upon vertical V- slides in 7a in a similar manner to the slide-rest of a lathe. The slides k k are formed upon two carriages 7c 74;, which are mounted to slide horizontally upon V-slides which are formed upon the bed I, which carries all the parts of the machine. Y

The slides 70 70 may be at right angles to the slides upon Z or be slightly inclinedas, for

example, the former slides might have the same inclination from the vertical as the comb or blade (1. Upon each of the carriages it is fixed a nut k (seen in Figs. 3 and 4,) and with each nut engages a screw shaft 711 upon which is fixed a bevel-wheelk", which meshes with a bevel-wheel fixed upon a connect ing-shaft on.

The shaft 721 is connected by bevel-wheels n n with a vertical shaft which revolves in a bearing in a bracket 71', and is connected by a second pair of bevel-wheels n with a horizontal shaft 0, which passes across to the front of the machine and is provided with a handwheel 0. The parts 92, 01', 01 and 0 are provided in order that the shaft on may be turned by the operator from the front of the machine; but they might be dispensed with by putting a hand-wheel or handle directly upon the shaft on.

It will be seen that when the wheel 0' is turned the carriages l2 7r. and the bar 0 will be moved in a direction to the right or left in Figs. 4 and 5, according to the direction in which the wheel is turned, the front of the bar 0 being in all positions parallel with the edge of the flat-barb. The bar 0 is moved up and down by means of two screw-shafts p 1), which engage with nuts 0 (indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1,) which are secured to the slides c c, and the said screw-shafts are connected by bevel-wheels 1) J with a connecting-shaft p upon which is fixed a handwheel 19 It will be seen that when the wheel p is turned the comb (l, fixed to the bar 0, will be moved toward or from the flat-bar 1), according to the direction of revolution of the handwheel, and the edge of the said comb, being adjusted to be parallel with the face of the bar I), will continue to be parallel with such face as the comb moves up and down.

The clamping-bar c is fitted to slide vertically against the vertical face of the bed a, and is formed with a series of inclines to suit corresponding inclines formed upon a horizontally-sliding bar e, as seen in Figs. 1 and E3. The bar a can be moved horizontally in the direction of its length by turning a screw 6 carried by the bar 6 and bearing against the end of the bed a. *hen the bar 6 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2, the clamping-bar 6 will be forced upward, being prevented from. moving with the bar 6 by pins 10 on the bed a, adapted to vertical slots 11 in the clamping-bar, Fig. 2, or by other suitable vertical guides. The use of this bar 6 is to force the part of the clip which projects below the back of the bar Z) into close contact with the said bar, as indicated in Fig. 6, in which I) is the clip. The carriage his adapted to longitudinal guides 011 the carriage g, and is moved thereon by a longitudinal feed-screw s in a similar manner to the ordinary movement of the carriage of a slide-lathe. The carriage g is mounted to slide upon the bed Z in directions toward and from the bar I), being guided by V-slides, (seen at l in Fig. 1.) The sliding of the carriage g is effected by means of two screwshafts '1' 0', which turn in bearings in the frame and are threaded into the carriage. These feed-screw shafts are connected by means of bevel-wheels o" r with a shaft 9' upon which is fixed a hand-wheel 1- the arrangement being similar to that of the parts for act-uatin the bar 0, a parallel movement of the carriage toward and from the bar I) being effected by turning the hand-wheel 0' To the carriage g is secured a clampingplate f. Vhen the clip is in position, the carriage g is moved toward the clip until the latter is tightly jammed against the edge of the bar by the platef, being at the same time pushed upward by the bar 6, as aforesaid. The presser-wheel i is fixed upon the end of a shaft, which revolves in a bearing formed in a part g, which slides vertically upon the carriage h. The part can be adjusted vertically upon the carriage g by turning a vertical feed-screw which turns in bearings in the said carriage and is threaded into the part c.

The carriage h is actuated by means of a screw-shaft 8. Upon a continuation of this screw-shaft are mounted two loose pulleys! t and a fast pulley 2. Two belts, one open and the other crossed, are mounted upon the two loose pulleys, and either belt can be brought onto the fast pulley by means of a belt-shipper 11, so that the screw-shaft can be revolved in either direction. The screwshaft engages with a nut fixed to the carriage 71., so that when the screw-shaft is revolved the carriage slides upon the bed-carriage g.

A sliding bar a is attached to the belt-sl1ipper, and is provided with adjustable stops, which can be set so that when the carriage g arrives at either end of its regulated traverse the belt is shifted from the fast pulley onto one of the loose pulleys. \Vhen the carriage h is at one end of its traverse, it is at ornearly at one end of the bed-carriage g, and is out of the way of the operator when he has to place in position or to withdraw the bar I).

The machine may be used in the followingdescribed manner: Preparatory to the operation the bar 0 and comb (Z are raised, the clamp e is lowered, and the clamp)" is moved a little distance away from the bed a, so that such parts are out of the way of the operator, who has to place a flat-bar upon the bed (1. In practice these movements of the said parts are made prior to the removal of a bar which has been operated upon. A flat-bar having been placed in position and clamped in the vise a a, a strip of card-clothing is placed in position upon the face of the bar. The strip may be a little narrower than the bar. One edge of the foundation fabric is brought up to the front edge of the flat-bar-that is, the edge which is next to the clamp f. The comb (I may be lowered, so as to serve as a guide for the adjustment of the clothing. The clothing be a little narrower than the bar.

being in position, the comb cl is brought down onto the clothing, so as to hold it firmly, as in Figs. 5 and 6. For this purpose I employ an ordinary carding-engine doffer-comb; but any suitable toothed blade or a smoothedged knife or blade may be used. The clip bis now placed in position, and the clamp e is forced upward and the clamp f is forced forward, so as to tightly hold the clamp against the flat-bar, as indicated in Fig. 6. The carriage h is now set in motion and passes along the bed-carriage g, the presser-wheel trolling down the upper flange of the clip upon the foundation fabric of the clothing in the manner indicated in Fig. 5, so that the said fabric is firmly secured to the bar. The rolling pressure upon the clip is regulated by turning the screw g The carriage it may or may not be then passed back, so as to give a second rolling to the clip. One edge of the clothing being thus secured, the comb (Z and the clamps e and f are raised, lowered, and withdrawn, and the flat-bar is released and reversed, so that the other edge is to the front. The edge of the clothing fabric will be a little inside the edge of the bar, supposing the strip of clothing to The bar 0 is lowered, so as to force the teeth of the comb into the fabric on a line close to the wires. The hand-wheel 0 is then turned, so as to move the comb d toward the clamp f, until the edge of the clothing is level with the edge of the bar or until the clothing is sufficiently stretched. If any of the fabric projects beyond the edge of the bar, the projecting part is now cut away. WVhile the comb still holds the fabric the second clip is placed in position and is secured in the same way as the first clip. The covered flat-bar may now be removed from the machine.

The stretching of the foundation fabric might be effected in the ordinary manner by the use of the ordinary stretching-jaws, in which case it would not be necessary to mount the bar 0- upon the sliding carriages it ,nor to employ the bevel-gearing and shaftin g for imparting movementto such carriages, ast-he comb or blade cl would only be required to act as a clamp to prevent retraction of the fabric.

Having fully described my invention, I declare that I claim- 1. The bar 0, provided with a comb or blade d and vertically and horizontally sliding carriages carrying the said bar, in combination with a vise or bed for holding the cardingengine flat-bar while the said comb or blade is pressed down upon the fabric of the cardclothing on such flat-bar and is moved in a direction across the flat-bar to stretch the said fabric, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with a vise or bed for holding a carding-engine flat-bar, of the bar 0, provided with a comb or blade, carriages 76', upon which the bar is mounted to slide in a direction at right angles to the face of the flat-bar, feed-screws for the bar, devices connecting the feed-screws to operate them together, feed-screws to move the carriage in a direction parallel with the face of the flatbar, and devices, substantially as described, connecting these latter feed-screws to operate them together, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination of a vise or bed for holding the cardingengine flat bar, a clamp for holding a clip to the under side of the flatbar, and mechanism for bending the upper flange of the clip, with a clamping-plate f, a carriage g, upon which the plate is mounted and which can be moved toward and from said flat-bar, and coupled screws for moving the carriage to and fro and maintaining its parallelism with the edge of the flat-bar, all substantially as set forth.

4:. The combination of a vise or bed ,for holding a carding-engine flat-bar with a clamping-plate e to hold a metal clip to the under side of the bar, means for pressing the said clamping-plate upward toward the back of the fiat-bar, and mechanism, substantially as set forth, for bending the clip down onto the upper side of the bar, all substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of a vise or bed for holding a cz-trding-engine flat-bar with a bar having a comb or blade to hold down the fabric of the card-clothing upon the said bar, a clamping-plate e and means for pressing it up toward the back of the bar, a clampingplate f to hold the metal clip against the edge of the bar, and mechanism for bending the clip down onto the edge of the card-clothing.

6. The combination of a vise or bed for holdin a carding-engine fiat-bar with a bar having a comb or blade to hold the cardclothing in position upon the bar, clamps for holding a metal clip against the edge and back of the bar, and a rotating pressing-disk and a sliding carriage carrying the disk to close down the upper flange of the clip upon the margin of the card-clothin g, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ELIJAH ASHWORTH.

Witnesses:

EDWARD K. DUTTON, EDWARD L. DUTTON. 

